Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our readers. New Year’s Eve was spent visiting various Civic Amenity and Recycling Centres in the Belfast area in weather of unsurpassed dreadfulness. I also managed a Radio Scotland Thought for the Day.

Meanwhile, congratulations to the priests from Halifax who are using a calendar to promote vocations to the priesthood. At least they aren’t taking the Calendar Girls ‘bare-it-all’ route – at which the mind begins to play with the various images which might emerge in the SEC version – modesty concealed by various strategically-placed stoles, scarves and .. ahem .. mitres.  Our own dear PDO would, of course, have to lead off as January’s child.

But the intention is serious enough – because it pays proper attention to the importance of providing good role models if younger people are to be attracted to the idea of priesthood.  Yes indeed.  I can see all sorts of bright young people who might look at my life and say, ‘Yes I’d like to be just like that.’  There is a ‘chicken and egg’ about all this. Unfortunately if too many of our clergy begin ordained ministry in middle age, our church will tend to be middle-aged as well – since we apparently work best with people ten years either side of our own age.

One comment

  1. I hope you exclude teachers from that statement – for I always found adolescents less trying than adults when it came to working together! 😉

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